Bucharest hosted the 2nd edition of “Dialogue between political parties from China and Central and Eastern Europe in 2017” event. CPC official: “Belt and Road Initiative is essential to our future unity”

PSD’s Dragnea: Europe, China should climb the mountain together to know economic development benefits

China intends to develop new communication and collaboration platforms with parties in Central and Eastern Europe countries, especially in terms of large projects such as the ones regarding the “Belt and Road Initiative,” member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Liu Yunshan said on Friday.

“The implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative is essential in order for us to be united in the future. In May 2017, China successfully organised the forum called Belt and Road Initiative (…) where discussions were carried out on developing and sending a strong signal in terms of international cooperation. The Chinese President conveyed on that occasion a message of cooperation and peace. It has been proven that this initiative serves the interests of all countries around the world. This initiative has become a public good for the international community and it will provide sustained dynamism to global prosperity. Moreover, this spirit of the silk road is essential for prosperity and cooperation. We have to strengthen cooperation and peace in order to build wonderful houses. Peace is the foundation of developing cooperation,” the Chinese official underscored, on the occasion of the second edition of the event called “Dialogue between political parties from China and Central and Eastern Europe in 2017”.

According to him, both China and Central and Eastern Europe countries, which had similar experiences in the past and suffered from wars, want peace and stability.

“The winner takes all concept in no longer valid. Political parties in China and the Central and Eastern European countries can carry out open dialogue under the Belt and Road Initiative. The CPC want to extend cooperation with political parties of the CEE countries and increase the visits paid by the CEE countries’ leaders, share experiences. It’s very important that this platform help political parties. We propose to set out a mechanism of dialogue that can be permanently carried out in China or in one of the CEE countries. Secondly, we have to build a platform of friendship exchanges for building some exchanges between us. (…) Thirdly, we should build a common learning platform on knowledge about civilisations. (…) and, at the same time, a practical cooperation platform. The Belt and Road Initiative has begun a new road, let’s prove that we have a new starting point and work together,” the Chinese official said.

The event held at Parliament Palace gathered 150 Chinese participants – the CPC delegation, a delegation of the All-China Youth Federation, delegates from the local administrations of seven Chinese provinces made up of Chinese business representatives, as well as 150 participants from 16 Central and Eastern European countries including Romania – leaders of the main political parties, representatives of local administrations and business environment.

The Belt and Road Initiative was unveiled for the first time in 2013 by China’s President Xi Jinping, as an innovation and development of the ancient “Silk Road,” that promoted peaceful cooperation, openness and tolerance, mutual learning, mutual advantage, mutual benefits and common gain.

PSD’s Dragnea: Europe, China should climb the mountain together to know economic development benefits

National leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Liviu Dragnea said Friday that Europe and China should climb the mountain together to get to know the benefits of economic development, alluding to an old Chinese adage.

“An old Chinese adage says he who does not climb the mountain, does not know how high the sky is. In my opinion, Europe and China should climb the mountain together to get to know the benefits of economic development, which brings prosperity to both countries. China certainly is a world economic power that has to be taken seriously and respected. China’s development has certainly influenced the world’s economic dynamics of the past decades significantly. So, China is a trustful ally of Europe, and I believe Central and Easter Europe are a gate to economic and commercial cooperation between the two continents that have two important pillars: China and the European Union,” Dragnea told “Dialogue between political parties from China and Central and Eastern Europe in 2017,” organised by PSD at Parliament Palace in Bucharest.

He added that bilaterally, there is sustained cooperation between Romania and China, with Romania being interested first of all in the consolidation of economic and commercial interactions, as well as in keeping up the growth trends in Romanian exports to China.

“The areas of major interest for cooperation between Romania and China are the same as previously mentioned: energy, infrastructure, agriculture. In the energy sector alone, for instance, negotiations are underway of projects which combined value could exceed 7 billion US dollars over the next years. The Romanian Government and the ruling coalition are also supporting the establishment of industrial parks that could stand to benefit from highly qualified labour in Romania and China’s expertise and production equipment. Romania is directly interested in drawing Chinese investment to become a part of the intermodal transport corridor to link Europe to China by capitalising on Constanta Port as a Black Sea transport and logistics hub, as well as on the Danube by developing regional waterway transport. We are hailing the contact between the European Union and China under the new mechanism of the connectivity platform, and we believe that there are excellent premises for a constructive engagement of both sides in projects of common interest,” said Dragnea.

General Mayor Firea: Bucharest could become new Silk Road gateway to EU

General Mayor Gabriela Firea said on Friday that Bucharest must play an important role as a commercial hub on the new silk road initiated in the 16 + 1 format, China and the Central and Eastern European countries.

“As General Mayor of Bucharest, I look with high interest at the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative launched in 2013. And I also look with great interest at what supports this initiative, namely the major infrastructure investments along the legendary silk road, a real symbol of economic cooperation between China and Europe. If we look at the map, we see that Bucharest is the first capital city on the route of the China-EU connectivity platform, which is the European answer to the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative. Thus, Bucharest can and must play an important role in the development of a real commercial and transport hub in Romania along this new silk road,” Gabriela Firea told a panel at the forum “2017 China-Central and Eastern European Countries Political Parties Dialogue”.

The Bucharest Mayor also mentioned Romania’s edge represented by the Constanta Black Sea port, but also by the river and railway transport routes connecting it to Central and Western Europe and the other EU states.

Firea mentioned that another important infrastructure project the Bucharest City Hall is planning to get involved in is the completion of the works at the Danube-Bucharest canal, which she said, is designed to make maritime transport possible between the capital of Romania, the Black Sea and Central Europe via the Danube.

“The port, but also the Danube-Bucharest canal could cost 1.5 billion euros. At the same time, seen from the East, Bucharest is the first capital city on the Pan-European Corridor IV, which is also the main transport route to the Central and Eastern European states. I believe that Bucharest can and must become a gateway always open to cooperation between China and Europe. (…) I am convinced that Bucharest can indeed become the gateway through which the new silk road can enter the European Union,” Gabriela Firea stressed.

In her capacity as General Mayor of the capital city Firea offered her full support for the accomplishment of the China-EU connectivity platform, as well as for aspects related to the collaboration between China and Romania.

The Mayor also mentioned her involvement in the continuation of the project for the construction of the Bucharest beltway, showing that the Bucharest City Hall also wants to develop other important infrastructure projects.

Prime Minister Mihai Tudose discussed at the Victoria Governmental Palace on Thursday about the opportunities to invest in Romania with an official delegation of the People’s Republic of China, headed by Liu Yunshan, member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

“We have in Romania investment opportunities and a friendly and predictable business environment. We have all necessary elements for a more active exchange between our countries, in the commercial, energy, infrastructure and production areas. China’s investment potential is impressive. We are delighted to benefit from China’s experience in the transport area and draw investments that will produce in Romania for the Chinese market, but also for that of the European Union,” PM Mihai Tudose said, according to a Government release.

The Romanian PM mentioned that there are concrete collaboration prospects with the Chinese partners for the construction of reactors 3 and 4 of the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant.

Furthermore, they also discussed the possibility of setting up a direct flight Bucharest – Beijing, and the potential of the port of Constanta of functioning as an important commercial hub between Asia and Europe.

In his turn, the Chinese high official underscored that Romania is a very important economic partner for China, in terms of geographic position, as a commercial gateway to Europe.

“In China there are numerous competitive enterprises, and the Chinese Government encourages these companies to invest in Romania, also taking into account that Romania is the second commercial partner of China after the European Union, as well as the Chinese state’s investment and financial capacity,” Liu Tunshan said.

He added that for the next five years China is estimating to import products worth 8,000 billion dollars and plans to invest 750 billion dollars abroad.

The projects Romania and China were having in progress and were put off after the Ponta governance will be resumed from the very point they were in progress back then, Chamber of Deputies’ Speaker Liviu Dragnea, national leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), announced on Friday at the Parliament Palace.

Dragnea said that nothing has ever materialised or been invested after the agreements four years ago between the two sides.

Speaker Dragnea received on Friday the Chinese delegation headed by Liu Yunshan, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the CCP, the meeting being attended by Prime Minister Mihai Tudose and several ministers of his Cabinet.

“We have tackled concrete topics. Hopefully, once resumed, they never stop, as they did in the past years. It’s about the large project of the Units 3 and 4 at Cernavoda Nuclear Plant, the Rovinari thermal power plant, the Tarnita Lapustesti hydroelectric power plant, a hydroelectric power station on the Danube, two bridges over the Danube. We have also talked about resuming the Bucharest-Beijing flight, about a much better organizing of the food exports and not only to China. For the next years China has a USD 8,000 billion of import budget and I believe that Romania could make an effort to organize itself so to sell to China whatever it needs,” Liviu Dragnea detailed.

According to Dragnea, the Chinese side is very interested in serious investments in infrastructure, reasserting its interest in the high-speed railway, speed ways and other large infrastructure projects.

The bilateral meeting took place in the second part of the event called “Political parties dialogue China – Central and East European countries 2017” gathered at the Parliament Palace, counting for 150 Chinese participants – the CCP delegation, the delegation of the Across China Youth Confederation, delegations of seven Chinese provinces’ local administrations, Chinese business milieu representatives included -, alongside 150 participants from 16 Central and East European countries, Romania included – leaders of the main political parties, high officials of the local administrations and of the business milieu.